The widely-used insect repellent Deet appears to be losing its effectiveness against mosquitoes, scientists say.

Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine say mosquitoes are first deterred by the substance, but then later ignore it.

This explains a lot. Despite my best efforts, I am still regularly attacked in my bedroom late at night (please note that no links to current bail hearings are implied here). And while I’ve tried many different repellents, I’ve never been able to get hold of any N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide. Just as well, it turns out, since, like antibiotics, it doesn’t work anymore.

But how did it even work in the first place?

For many years, it was not clear exactly how the chemical worked, but recent research suggests that insects simply do not like the smell.

So whoever came up with Deet obviously never had to change a nappy then. Because you have to become resistant and immune to that nasty smell as well. You can overcome it. As can mosquitoes with Deet, it seems.

So we need something else. Some way of “Deet”erring these vicious bloodsuckers. And there’s definitely money to be made here.

I’m still working on my Castle Milk Stout ingestion method. As yet, there appears to be no discernible effect on the insects, but the research has been fun and probably deserves a whole lot more investigation.

My English enzymes can’t cope in these sorts of temperatures and have to be cooled and revived with a special mixture of Castle Milk Stout and Castle Milk Stout. The first four didn’t seem to get through, but after another four I fell into the pool and felt much better.

Later, we headed to the beach with the rest of Cape Town and enjoyed the sea breeze and our square metre of sand, most of which was dug up by Alex and deposited on his sister.
The place quietened down as the sun ducked behind the mountains and the temperature suddenly plummeted to a chilly 34°C and we headed home to the beer fridge.

NOTE: Already been asked several times: this temperature was outside, in the shade, out of the (slight) breeze.
We were happy at 34-35°C, then it suddenly leapt to this peak and then dropped back to 38°C after about 10 minutes.
Cape Town weather is weird.